June 3, 1 bNb
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Kakashi Hatake was itching to fight. The last time he had fought the Uchiha opposite him properly was just shy of two years ago.
Despite only being three years younger than Izuma, whispers always mentioned Kakashi in the same breath as him.
Sakumo's boy is so talented, almost as much as the Uchiha kid.
As expected of the son of Sakumo, to think he'd be compared to the Uchiha prodigy.
Every bit of praise toward him felt back-handed, no matter how great his own talents and achievements were; Kakashi could never escape the endless comparisons between himself, his father, and Izuma.
So yes, Kakashi knew his dissatisfaction was petty, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. And now that he was given the perfect opportunity to prove why he had been promoted to jōnin a year before Izuma, he wouldn't squander it.
"So, Izuma, why'd you drag us all into this training ground again?" Minato asked. "Kushina's going to kill me if her food goes cold."
Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh.
Of course, he thought dryly. World-class shinobi and he's terrified of his girlfriend.
He flicked a glance at Minato's easy smile and mentally amended it. Completely whipped.
Contrary to the norm, Izuma didn't seem even mildly amused. Usually, he'd take great joy in what Izuma, rather aptly, dubbed ragebaiting Minato.
Izuma shrugged, looking completely unbothered. "You practically volunteered when you didn't opt your team out of this mission. I know you think they're ready, but be serious for a moment and think it through. One of them isn't making it back, maybe all three for all we know."
Minato's smile faded slightly at the Uchiha's outburst.
"I told you already, I've tried multiple times," he said, his tone sounding mildly annoyed. "I asked all three of them."
His gaze shifted, briefly, to himself, then Obito, then Rin. "Certainly more than once. You're forgetting that I'm just as worried as you are—they're my family."
Kakashi straightened without realizing it.
"They understand the risks, and yet they're willing to step up. They have no plans to step aside and watch from the sidelines because a mission will be dangerous," he continued, flashing his students a gratified smile.
"And more importantly," Minato added, "this is wartime. Autonomy only stretches so far when the fate of your village is on the line. We don't always get the luxury of perfect readiness. If we waited until every shinobi was perfectly prepared, we'd never deploy anyone."
Kakashi felt a strange sense of vindictive pleasure upon seeing Izuma getting chewed out. His holier-than-thou attitude had really started to piss him off—Kakashi had made jōnin a year younger, and he still had the gall to treat him like a nobody.
Izuma shook his head with a scowl. "You don't need them, Minato. Borrow one or two shinobi from those already under my command, heck, I'll ask Fugaku to send some competent ninja from the police force."
Behind him, Obito made a choking noise. "Huh?!"
Kakashi had to resist the urge to scoff.
He really thinks some random jōnin is more competent than me? He's acting like he isn't young himself, Kakashi thought irritably. Izuma was older than them, sure, but not by much. Certainly not enough to talk like some grizzled war veteran deciding who lived or died.
Minato hummed, turning introspective.
Obito turned fully toward him. "Sensei! Come on, you can't be seriously thinking about leaving us behind!"
"We've fought in the war!" Obito continued, fists clenched. "We're not academy kids anymore!"
Kakashi crossed his arms, and despite how rare the occasion was, he inwardly agreed with his comrade.
We're ready.
That much he was sure of.
Izuma finally shifted his gaze, crimson eyes spinning to life as they flicked toward Obito with scrutiny. "Confidence isn't the same thing as readiness."
Obito bristled. "Says the guy who's barely—"
"Obito," Minato said gently.
Rin stepped forward before the tension could spike further. "Izuma-san," she said earnestly. "If we're going to contribute to the village, then we need to take on missions like this. Konoha can't afford to keep shinobi on the sidelines just because things are dangerous."
Izuma looked at her with pity.
"Obito, just as Shisui is my cousin, you know I've come to view you like family, right?"
Upon receiving a slightly confused nod, the older Uchiha continued.
"Then you should also know," Izuma continued quietly, "that I'm not saying this to belittle you."
Izuma's gaze lingered on Obito. "If I thought you were useless, I wouldn't have bothered training you. I wouldn't have spent evenings correcting your form or drilling you until you couldn't feel your arms. I know exactly how skilled you are."
Obito froze, the retort dying on his lips.
Kakashi frowned despite himself. It pained him to admit it, but Izuma had helped Obito and himself with their own training multiple times.
Izuma shifted his attention to him next.
"And you," he said. "You didn't make jōnin early because of your father. You made it because you're good. You know that. I know that."
Kakashi stiffened, irritation mixing with an uncomfortable flicker of validation.
Izuma's gaze swept to Rin last. "And Rin, your control and ability to keep people alive under pressure are remarkable. You're exactly the kind of shinobi Konoha needs."
"That's precisely why I'm pushing back."
Minato watched him closely now, expression unreadable.
"This mission isn't just dangerous," Izuma said. "We don't know jack shit. Even the dossier the Hokage gave might as well have been empty. We know where we're attacking, and we know how important it is to Iwa. Whoopty-do. If, and I promise you it's more of a when, things go wrong, people will die."
Obito swallowed, yet Izuma didn't relent.
"The consequences are unavoidable. Not only is your own life in jeopardy, but thousands more as well. You lot have a higher chance of dying, which also means you have a higher chance of failing this mission. I'm telling you right now, don't go. For the village's sake, and your own."
Then he sighed.
"But…I know you guys have no intention of taking up my offer. So instead of going back and forth for no reason, show me you can handle this mission."
He reached into his vest, and suddenly metal glinted in the sunlight. Three bells dangled from a short length of cord, chiming softly as he lifted them into view.
Kakashi's eye sharpened instantly.
You've got to be kidding me.
Obito stared. "Seriously?"
Rin blinked. "Is that…?"
Izuma rolled the bells once in his palm.
"You want in on this mission?" His gaze swept across all three of them. "Then prove you won't get yourselves killed. I know you already did this test with Minato, but I'm not him."
…Was he serious? Kakashi felt irritation spike. Why were all the Uchiha around him so insufferable?
"I'm a jōnin," he said coolly. "Obito and Rin are chūnin. We're not—"
"This mission," Izuma cut in, "will kill you if you hesitate. I don't give a fuck about teamwork or any of that crap. There are three bells, one for each of you. Get all three, and you pass, fail, and all three of you collectively step down from this mission. Capiche?"
Kakashi scowled. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"
Izuma smiled.
"Immensely."
Izuma then glanced at his wrist with an exaggerated flourish. "Time is ticking, my little padawans. Tick tock."
Kakashi wasn't quite sure what padawan meant, but he was sure that it was a derogatory term.
Cocky Uchiha…
But, he felt giddy nonetheless. Wasn't this the opportunity he had been waiting for all the while?
Minato raised a hand.
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Kakashi moved.
He didn't wait for a plan; his body surged forward purely on instinct. This was the moment he'd been waiting for.
Kakashi was nothing shy of a blur as he closed the distance. If Izuma wanted proof of his strength, Kakashi would give it to him the only way he knew how: head-on.
Izuma shot him a derisive grin that made his blood boil.
He ignored it and let a straight punch aimed for the ribs fly.
Izuma sidestepped the attack with infuriating ease, turning his shoulder so the blow skimmed past. Kakashi followed instantly, pivoting into a low sweep meant to take his legs out.
Izuma stepped back, momentarily appearing just outside of his reach, and then followed up with a palm strike on his wrist. His hand jolted outward, losing its previous momentum.
Izuma's elbow drove toward his collarbone.
Kakashi twisted at the last second, the force from the impact sending him skidding back several meters.
He managed to steady himself in a crouch, boots digging furrows into the dirt.
Kakashi launched again, feints layered over feints, a high kick into a spinning backfist, and fingers speedily forming hand seals mid-motion; however, it was all for naught: Izuma read all of it. He caught Kakashi's ankle, redirected the momentum, and used it to hurl him bodily into a nearby training post.
Wood cracked.
Kakashi rolled with the impact, breath sharp, heart hammering.
He's not even trying yet.
Izuma advanced, looking wholly unbothered by the onslaught he was unleashing as he picked apart his attacks one-by-one.
Kakashi scowled in irritation but disengaged. He flipped backward, landing near the treeline, and his hand flew up in a sharp signal.
Now!
A fireball roared past him, the heat forcing sweat, as Obito's Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu tore through the clearing. Shuriken followed immediately, spinning through the flames, their edges glowing red.
Izuma's hands blurred.
"Water Style: Water Wall."
Steam exploded outward as fire met water from the nearby pond, the flames snuffing out in a violent hiss.
But that was never the point. The next second, shuriken punched through the thinning mist…and somehow Izuma's own shuriken met them midair.
Metal rang.
When did he throw his shuriken?
Kakashi watched in disbelief as Izuma's throws clipped Obito's weapons at precise angles, altering their trajectories. The deflected shuriken curved unnaturally, arcing past Rin and tapping Obito's shoulder and thigh in quick succession.
Kakashi glanced over his teammates' injuries, and thankfully, they weren't very deep. But even so, he felt bitter all the same. How had he dismantled their first push with such ease?
I'm supposed to be on his level, he thought with chagrin.
Obito yelped. "Hey—!"
"Dead," Izuma said mildly, without looking at him.
"Rin!" Kakashi barked. "Heal him! I'll cover!"
Obito was still groaning from the shuriken, shoulder slightly scorched from the heat. Rin moved instantly, chakra flaring as she rushed to kneel beside him, green glow pulsing to life.
Kakashi knew he would have to hold Izuma back, and so he surged forward with renewed vigor.
He appeared mid-air, hands blurring through a set of signs before he even landed.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
A dozen small-sized fireballs screamed toward Izuma in a rapid scatter. Izuma didn't bother moving from his spot as he finished his own set of hand signs.
"Water Style: Wild Water Wave."
Izuma spewed a torrent of water from his mouth. The liquid chakra slammed into the oncoming fireballs mid-air, and, again, steam exploded as fire met water.
Hisssssssssss—!
The clash birthed a thick mist that rapidly enveloped the clearing. White smoke curled upward, veiling the trees, the sky, and Kakashi's silhouette.
Despite the thick mist, Kakashi could still see a faint red light deeper into the training ground.
Kakashi felt blithe at the sight; at the very least, he now had a way to find the Uchiha.
His hopes were immediately dashed when Izuma narrowed his eyes and reappeared five or so meters away from him with a mocking grin.
"Thinking of hiding? I'm afraid that won't work." Izuma shook his head with exaggerated pity.
Kakashi felt his brow twitch, but he reigned in his emotions—his father had proven that sentiment only got one killed—and tried to create some distance. If he were fighting Obitio, he'd have no qualms about remaining close, but against someone like Izuma, who hadn't only unlocked the Sharingan but mastered it, that was suicide.
"Predictable."
Izuma slammed both palms into the slightly moist earth.
"Earth Style: Mud Pool"
Chakra surged from Izuma's hands into the softened ground beneath his feet, turning it into thick, churning mud that began to pool and ripple, not unlike a body of water during a stormy day.
Kakashi was not a man inexperienced with warfare, having fought against Iwa-nin on a few occasions. For that reason, he considered himself slightly more familiar with Earth-style ninjutsu than most, and at this moment, every bit of instinct that had been sharpened during war was screaming at him.
Take cover!
Yet the attack before him could hardly even be called such. So, it had to be the opening move, setting the stage for another attack.
His hands flashed through seals. "Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
The ground shrieked upward between them in a violent rush, leaving lacertations in the earth as a slab of hardened dirt walled off Kakashi.
Barely a fraction of a second later, the ground in front of him bulged. A large, snarling dragon-shaped head formed out of the mud. Despite being earthenware, the dragon was a fearsome sight, with a gaping jaw and a roar that sounded akin to moving earth.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet."
The dragon promptly launched a series of rapid-fire mud shells, each one the size of two grown men lying in front of one another.
Boom!
The earth that had surged upward under Kakashi's chakra shattered on impact, pulverized instantly with a deafening noise that made his ears ring. The slab disintegrated into a cloud of debris, the force of the blast ripping straight through it and detonating behind.
The explosion flung Kakashi backward. He was forced off the ground, and the air was torn violently from his lungs as the shockwave hurled him through dirt, splintered rock, and shattered roots. His vision flashed white as he hit the ground.
So this is the difference between our jutsus?!
Irrespective of his dumbfounded thoughts, his hands still moved before the thought could finish.
"Substitution Jutsu!"
Smoke burst outward.
The second shell screamed through the space where Kakashi had been a heartbeat earlier and slammed into the treeline beyond.
The impact was catastrophic. The ground ruptured, and three massive trees were torn out by the roots, trunks snapping as they were flung sideways as if they had no weight. A fourth tree folded in on itself, bark exploding outward as it crashed to the ground.
Boom! Boom!
Trees continued flying through the air as Izuma's dragon-esque construct continued shooting bullets of destruction with hollow, indifferent eyes.
Thankfully, Kakashi had managed to blur out of the smoke just in time, landing with mud splattered across his vest and cheeks. He pricked his ears, desperately trying to gauge whether the terror had passed.
Whizz!
The final shell from the beast of destruction slammed into the tree Kakashi used as cover.
Boom!
The world detonated.
Earth, bark, lush, all heaved upward in a surge, and Kakashi was swallowed by the blast before he could complete another substitution. The shockwave snapped him off his feet again, hurling him through the air for the second time.
He crashed through undergrowth, bark, and stone, which all ripped into his armor, before slamming hard into the base of a tree.
The trunk cracked.
Kakashi slid down it, gasping, vision swimming as pain tore through his ribs. His fingers twitched uselessly for a moment before he forced them to move, nails digging into the dirt to steady himself.
Dust and debris rained down around him as the forest groaned in protest. Somewhere nearby, another tree finally gave way and collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Through the haze, Kakashi lifted his head.
The dragon was still there.
Its massive earthen jaws churned again, another shell forming in its maw.
So this is what it meant… to be outmatched.
But before Izuma's dragon fired, Kakashi allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk. He may have lost, but that didn't matter.
"Obito, now!" he shouted.
"Fire Style: Fire Release Stream!"
Obito's voice rang out from the opposite side of the clearing. A stream of blazing fire, ready to set whatever dared come in its path ablaze, burst forward.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm!" Rin's jutsu fanned the flames, creating a blaze with terrifying velocity.
Whatever remnants of the earlier mist there had been vaporized instantly.
Izuma's brows rose slightly, but to his credit, he reacted immediately with hand seals.
For the first time since its creation, the earthen construct, which seemed more like a God of destruction to Kakashi, faltered, its massive jaws grinding before the chakra inside destabilized. The shell forming in its maw collapsed inward, and the dragon fizzled out.
Its body sloughed apart in heavy clumps, collapsing back into the mud pool below with a thunderous splash. At the same time, the churning earth beneath Izuma's feet stiffened abruptly, liquefying sludge snapping into hardened stone.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall."
The firestorm hit an instant later.
BOOM—!
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Power stones and comments would be appreciated especially comments that we know at least someone is reading the story, lol.